The Witcher Standalone Anime Film Nightmare of the Wolf Is in Development at Netflix
It seems so surreal that despite initial mixed critical reviews, The Witcher has managed to be such an undisputed success. I fell in love with the show, which reminded me of the amazing ’90s fantasy camp drama series of my youth like Hercules and Xena, plus it’s refreshing to have a series that doesn’t spend all its time explaining things to you and just drops you into the story. Considering how popular it has become, it is no surprise that Netflix is going to be branching out to craft even more Witcher content as we wait for season two.
io9‘s Beth Elderkin confirmed yesterday that Netflix is currently developing a stand-alone anime film called The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, “that is designed to expand the world of Netflix’s series” and that the movie “explores a powerful new threat facing the Continent.”
What is so great about the world of The Witcher is that between the show, books, and games, there is so much material that could be turned into an adaptation that would not take away from the main storyline. A standalone anime could also delve into the background story/world for those who might not be interested in checking out the source material or playing the games.
Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, the showrunner for The Witcher, will also be heading up Nightmare of the Wolf along with writer Beau DeMayo, who was also part of the show’s first season. The Korean animation company Studio Mir will be creating it, and considering they are the ones behind The Legend of Korra, Voltron: Legendary Defender, and the delightful Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, I’m sure that the quality of it will be amazing and I can’t wait to see how it all comes out.
It is not known yet if Henry Cavill (Geralt), Anya Chalotra (Yennefer), Joey Batey (Jaskier), Freya Allan (Ciri) and the rest of the cast will be returning to voice their characters, but I certainly hope so. If not, bringing in their video game voice actors would also be a great gift for devoted fans of the series. There have been talks about turning The Witcher into films and I think animation is the best way to bring to life all of the interesting and creative aspects of the series while also keeping it to a reasonable runtime.
Between this and the Castlevania series, Netflix has managed to turn two video game properties into quality shows. Maybe they should try and get the rights to Tekken or Resident Evil and see if they can bring those to life as well. Regardless, it has been a fun time watching The Witcher manage to be as fun as it is, even with the levels of silliness. There truly is a benefit to just allowing something to be fun and not taking yourself too seriously. Especially when you have a small wig budget.
Season two of The Witcher is slated to arrive in 2021.
(via io9, image: Netflix)
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